Trump explains what police reform executive order will include
President Trump says Democrats want to substantially weaken, defund and abolish law enforcement and vowed his executive order 'won't do anything that will hurt police.'
PBS NewsHour White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor raised eyebrows on Wednesday while attempting to refute President Trump's claim that the protesters who have been destroying statues in recent weeks have no knowledge about the statues they're destroying.
During Wednesday's press conference from the Rose Garden, Trump slammed the unrest that has led to the destruction of several statues in recent weeks.
"I think many of the people who are knocking down these statues don't even have any idea what the statue is, what it means, who it is," Trump said. "When they knock down Grant... now they're looking at Jesus Christ, they're looking at George Washington, they're looking at Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, not gonna happen, not gonna happen -- not as long as I'm here."
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The president was in part referring to tweets made by prominent activist and former Bernie Sanders surrogate Shaun King, who called for the removal of "white" Jesus Christ from churches as well as efforts to remove a statue of Lincoln standing over a slave in Washington D.C.
However, Alcindor took to Twitter and rejected Trump's claim with a "note."
"Note: Protesters say they understand who the statues commemorate and that images of those people--many who owed enslaved people--should be gone," Alcindor wrote.
Critics pushed back against the PBS journalist, citing examples of statues of people who were neither Confederate military leaders nor slaveowners.
"Note: You're arguing that protesters pulled down statues of Union General Ulysses S. Grant and famous abolitionists like Hans Christian Heg knowing exactly who they were," Washington Examiner reporter Jerry Dunleavy told Alcindor.
"Thank you for speaking on their behalf and confirming they know Grant, Lincoln & Heg but are tearing them down regardless. It certainly clarifies things a bit," conservative commentator Stephen Miller sarcastically said.
"What protestors? Any quotes from people who pulled down statues?" The Federalist New York correspondent David Marcus asked.
"This is just embarrassing," RealClearInvestivations senior writer Mark Hemingway tweeted.